The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill., business briefs column

Source: The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.迷你倉Sept. 19--Samuel Music adds Thompson-KramerEFFINGHAM _ Samuel Music Co., which closed its retail stores earlier this year to concentrate on renting, selling and servicing school band instruments, has acquired another company.Effingham-based Samuel Music announced this week that it has acquired Thompson-Kramer Music Co., which has served school bands in the Decatur and Springfield areas for more than 50 years."This acquisition allows for a stronger, more unified presence in the world of school music," Samuel Music stated in a release.Jim Kramer has become Samuel Music's school band representative and will continue to be based in Decatur. Samuel Music serves schools in the Champaign, Mattoon, Effingham, Decatur and Springfield areas.Old National to expand in IndianaEVANSVILLE, Ind. _ Old National Bank, which has offices in Danville, is poised to expand into the Fort Wayne, Ind., area.The bank's parent company, Old National Bancorp, announced last week that it has agreed to acquire Tower Financial Corp. and its subsidiary bank, Tower Bank & Trust Co., in a transaction valued at $107.7 million.Tower Bank has six offices in Fort Wayne and one in Warsaw, Ind., and its parent company has about $681 million in assets.Old National Bancorp has about $9.6 billion in assets and 176 bank branches in Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Kentucky.CPAs donating their time FridayCHAMPAIGN _ Nearly 1,000 certified public accountants in Illinois are expected to give back to their communities on Friday as part of the Illinois CPA Society's CPA Day of Service.In Champaign, a group of accountants is volunteering at the CU Scholars Budget Challenge for the Champaign Urbana Schools Foundation. Other activities listed on the society's website include:_ Packaging food at the Mattoon Community Food Center in Mattoon._ Assisting a special education class i自存倉 Monticello._ Serving as an Eagle Scout project volunteer with the Boy Scouts in Monticello._ Helping at Empty Tomb in Champaign._ Doing treasury work and meeting with homeowners at Habitat for Humanity in Danville._ Packaging food boxes for Compassionate Food Ministries of Edgar County.This is the fourth year the society has sponsored the CPA Day of Service.Ameren offers grants to nonprofitsCOLLINSVILLE _ Ameren Illinois is providing grants of up to $2,000 to nonprofit groups having difficulty paying their utility bills.The money is administered through the Energy Assistance Foundation and is available to qualifying 501(c)3 organizations that have active Ameren Illinois electric accounts.Awards are applied directly to the organization's electric account. Applications are available at .amerenillinois.com.Firm's sale profits Sierra CapitalCHAMPAIGN _ Champaign-based Serra Capital recently reported it made money on the sale of one of its 24 portfolio companies.That company, Infochimps, was sold Aug. 5 to Computer Sciences Corp., based in Falls Church, Va.Earlier this year, Infochimps acquired the assets of Caterva Inc., in which Serra Capital originally invested.Caterva, founded by Hieu Le while he was a University of Illinois doctoral student, developed a real-time social networking platform.In Serra Capital's quarterly newsletter, managing partner Tim Hoerr said it was the first portfolio company exit for Serra Capital. "With the fund less than 3 years old, it is exciting to see a positive return on our first liquidity event," he said.In a release announcing the acquisition, Computer Sciences Corp. described Infochimps as a "big data" company based in Austin, Texas, with an office in Redwood City, Calif.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The News-Gazette (Champaign, Ill.) Visit The News-Gazette (Champaign, Ill.) at .news-gazette.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉